"What Is Love?" An essay discussing both the biblical definition of love and the modern secular definition. Cites both the Holy Bible (New International Version) and Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain.

In today's society, love is most often thought of as a romantic feeling between two people. However, it also exists between friends, relatives, and other people. 1 Corinthians 13: 4-8 clearly states what love is.

1 Corinthians says that love keeps no record of wrongs. This doesn't mean, however, that someone who misbehaves often can't earn a bad reputation. A good example of this is mark Twain's character Tom Sawyer. Though Aunt Polly always forgave him for the bad things he had done, she still remembered them and he was often accused when there was trouble in their house. When someone asks for forgiveness from God, he not only forgives, but also forgets his or her sin, and it will never be brought up again. This doesn't mean that they won't be punished later on for their sin, whether by authorities or by God. For example, if a person has premarital sex, they can be forgiven, but may be punished with a sexually transmitted disease later on.

People also cannot expect to be forgiven by others, if they do not forgive as well. In Matthew, Peter went to Jesus and asked him "Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him?" to which Jesus replied "seventy times seven" (The Student Bible, Matt. 18:21-35). He then told the Parable of the Unforgiving Servant. In the story, a servant owed his master a great debt, but could not pay him. The master told the servant he would send him and his family to jail in order to repay himself. The servant pleaded to his master to have patience and let him repay him later. His master forgave him of his debt and sent him on his way. When the servant left he went to his neighbor who owed him money and asked for it. He could not repay him so the servant had him and his family thrown in jail. When his master found out he was angered by the news so much that he sent the servant to be tortured in jail until he could repay him. The moral of this story is that God forgives His people, just as He wants...